SmallBizResource Blog -- Research

Female Biz Leaders & The Bad Rep

Posted by Judy Mottl Monday, Nov 26, 2007, 09:55 AM ET

You’re running your own shop, keeping the business growing yet if you’re a female business owner you’re not being viewed the same as a male counterpart.

It seems female managers who are seen as unkind, insensitive and unaware of other’s feelings are judged as worse bosses than men who exhibit the same qualities.

That’s the take of Kristin Byron, an assistant professor of management in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. Byron conducted a study to see if being good at spotting emotions meant managers had more satisfied staff.

The study also asked staffers to rate how supportive their work managers are and and how satisfied they were with their boss’ treatment.

She found that female managers who couldn’t read unspoken emotions, such as facial expressions, posture and tone of voice, were seen as less caring and thus received lower ratings of satisfaction from their staff.

But male leaders who were bad at spotting emotions were not subject to the same expectations.

“It seems female managers may be expected to be sensitive to others’ emotions and to demonstrate this sensitivity by providing emotional support. Because of this female managers’ job performance is judged on them being understanding, kind, supportive and sensitive. In contrast, this is not the basis to evaluate the performance of male managers. It is far more important for male managers, and men, in general, to be seen as analytical, logical and good at reasoning than showing care and concern for others.”

Hmmm.. makes me kind of wonder just how far have women have come in the corporate environment.

Research | Women in Business